City of Newton Info

In the last few days before his retirement, I had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with David.  Twenty years ago, he came to Newton from the House of Seven Gables to lead Historic Newton, which was housed in the Jackson Homestead.  In 2005, at the time of Ed English’s retirement, David applied for the position of City Clerk and Clerk of the Board of Aldermen (now City Council) and became the eighth City Clerk in Newton’s history.

Let’s now learn about David and how he approached this new and intriguing opportunity to work with the Newton community and others in City Hall.  He brought leadership, innovation, and a focus on talent development to the Clerk’s office that it had not seen before, especially to the Elections Office.  The City Council and the Executive Department will miss David, and so will I!

Thank you, David for all that you have done for Newton!  You are leaving big shoes to be filled.

Marcia Johnson

Recently, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Susan Albright, President of the Newton City Council and a Councilor at-Large for Ward 2. The City Council is Newton’s legislative branch of municipal government.  It is made up of 24 members – sixteen at-large Councilors and eight Ward Councilors.  Susan has been a city councilor for 16 years and president for almost one year.

I thought it would be good to learn about how she and the Council have managed the incredibly challenging 2020.  She reflected on her first year as president and shared her priorities for her next year.  She also shared the process for filling the councilor vacancies because of Councilor Jay Ciccone’s untimely passing and Councilor Auchincloss’ successful election to Congressman-elect for District 4.